Former transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury has replaced Purnendu Chatterjee as the Managing Director of troubled petrochemical company Haldia Petrochemicals.
Chatterjee, who is the co-promoter and chairman of TCG group, labelled the move to appoint Chowdhury, who is also the former MD of Hidco, in place of Partha S Bhattacharyya, as a "set-up job".
Purnendu Chatterjee reportedly left the company's three hour long board meeting in 45 minutes and was “visibly upset,” reports said.
However, state industry minister Partha Chatterjee, who is also HPL chairman, said Chatterjee was not willing to continue for personal reasons. "The MD has wished to resign from his post. We have accepted the resignation but he is willing to help us and HPL will take his help. Sumantra Chowdhury will be the new MD.
HPL is going through a rough patch and is about to ask its bankers for a Rs 10bn loan to fund its daily needs. Saddled with an accumulated loss of Rs 11bn, the company is pinning its hopes on projections of profits from the next quarter as the petrochemical business cycle has improved.